Leapin' Traditions

 

It was such a good Leap Day that I decided on some traditions I'd like to keep. 

Every February 29th should definitely be spent on a sunny beach.

And with beautiful scenery!

Followed by delicious pizza!

Capped off with a Lady Royals sectional victory!! Way to go! Just one win away from state. 

Glad the extra day this year gave me an extra day of vacation! Sure hate to leave this 80-plus degree weather behind.

P.S. Definitely doing this more often than once every 4 years!

Long-Distance Twins Territory

One of the draws to traveling to the Fort Meyers area -- besides some sunshine and sister time -- is that it is the home of spring training for my Minnesota Twins.

Made sure I got tickets for the three of us and they graciously cheered for my team! 

Lee Health sports complex is pretty cool. Decent size for crowd of 5,000-plus today. Lots were Orioles fans, but most were OK. Ha.

View behind home plate.

View from our seats. Just up 8 rows up from the visiting dugout. Not a bad View. Could see everything. 

Per usual,  spring training involves a lot of players trying to prove their worth. There were a few regulars, though.

Lopez got the start. They "tested" a lot of pitchers today!

Kepler at bat! 

Despite the fact Baltimore was kicking our butts, T.C. was keeping fans engaged!

Down by 10, we thought we had a rally late in the game when Rucker hit a homerun. We didn't quite rally.

Ended up losing by 9, but who cares? Watching baseball outside, in 83-degree temps, in February, while NOT in the office is a win for me!

Plus the day was bookended by morning pool time and late-day coconut shrimp. And it was cold and snowy at home.

Did I mention I'm winning? 

My time here is going too fast, though. Hope y'all are finding a spot of sunshine in your lives this week!

Oh Our Hearts!

I was so looking forward to our boating and shelling adventure today that I didn't expect anything to dampen my mood.

Until I got an early text from hubby that our princess wasn't doing well. At all. Releasing blood, lethargic, and seemingly in pain.

Our poor baby girl!

Jim got her to the vet right away. And sadly,  she didn't come home. 

I still picture this little princess moving into our home more than 19 years ago and making it her castle. Oh Princess Poops-A-Lot, Princess Pukes-A-Lot, who we loved a lot, it was a pleasure being your loyal servants!

Both Carter and I feel horrible we're a thousand-plus miles away and can't be there for her favorite human!

It's going to feel pretty empty when I go back home. For being a non-cat person, I certainly shed my share of tears today. I'm sure we all did.

I did manage to enjoy my dolphin watching and shell-collecting but she wasn't far from my mind when I found this intact "heart shell" as I call it.

Rest in peace, princess.  I'll miss our girls' nights, but I know Hairball Heaven will have a nice heated bed for you and your secret favorite - mint ice cream!

❤️

Lucky 7's

 

Greetings from Bonita Springs! I know back home it was almost 60 degrees today, so y'all won't be jealous when I say it was a perfect 77 here. Not a cloud in the sky. 

Very relaxing day. Just tired enough I won't blog much. Lots of pool and sun time. Yummy coconut shrimp dinner at the North Naples Country Club.story for another time.

Saw some wildlife.

And our wild cat we're kitty sitting!

A little cards and TV and we're pooped. Tomorrow is going to be something special. Can't wait to get 8 hours of sleep...

And relax another day. Yay, vacation!

Where's Waldo (and Robyn)?

Every year at Camp Crop-A-Lot our "camp counselors" come up with a fun theme that carries through the weekend.

This year, coincidentally, it was a traveling theme with some Where's Waldo scavenger hunting. He was in all 50 states actually. We just had to find him and solve the clue to figure out which state. My team found 43 of them around the dining hall and our work areas. The winners found 47.

I was disappointed the Florida clue was about gators and not dolphins. Because guess what?

I'm still seeing dolphins wherever I look! Please tell me you see it too. It just mad me even more excited about my trip.

Especially when our view Friday included big flakes! Thankfully it was sunny Saturday and today. Not that my friend Julie and I got out for a walk. I mean we TALKED about it, but between scrapbooking, getting my annual Shamrock Shake delivery, little sleep, and an hour-long massage, we just didn't get around to it!

Still it was so great spending time together. And we both finished the albums we wanted to (2016 is finally finished).

And we got bonustimee since I dropped off my car at home and she drove me to the Madison Airport

Just about to board. Next time you're looking for Waldo or Robyn, check your Florida map, just south of Fort Myers.

Please, no drone shots of me on hanging out with Mr. Deck Chair's cousin!

Fin-ished

To take short stress breaks at work, my team works on jigsaw puzzles. You might walk by and find one piece and mosey back to your desk. Or get excited when you find one right away and stay 'til you've put another in place. Either way, you are NOT thinking about work at all.

Today we put this fin-tastic, uniquely shaped dolphin puzzle to rest. It took a few days, that's for sure! And what did we learn besides patience?

Dolphins have wicked sharp teeth! In my mind, I just picture them as these cute mammals we can wave to and they'll fin-wave back. Now I'm a bit concerned how close I might get to them when we go on a dolphin tour next week! Hmmm... 80 degrees and sunny on the Gulf... I'll be brave!

The other thing that was fin-ished today... the boys regular basketball season. They had a tough loss to Stratford to finish up the season. Playoffs start this coming Tuesday at home! They'd have to win so I could potentially see them next Friday night. Otherwise, that's that for shooting this fun team.

Since I need to fin-ish packing – 95% there – I'm not sure I'll get to editing all the photos until my return. I gotta be bright-eyed and bushy tailed (or finned) in the morning so I can hit the road at 8 a.m.

I'll try to keep you posted on what I fin-ish each day!

Spring It On!

Spring is in the air and I'll give you 4 hints how I can tell.

1. Last night the girls basketball playoff season began and our Lady Royals cruised to a Regional Round 1 win over Port Edwards, 70-8. Not a typo. Keep it rolling, girls.

2. We had near-record temps in Wisconsin today. 55 degrees in Rapids. Just what we needed to finally get that ice from last week off the roads. Yay!

3. I have to get my spring colors on. And by that, I mean hair...

Don't you love SnapChat filters? I would love to have wrinkles gone and look that glamorous.

Still, I love what my hair artist did in real life! She's got the magic touch!

4. I'm packing – as the top photo illustrates. Two trips actually. This weekend is my scrapbooking weekend at the Lions Camp in Rosholt. I'll leave for that at 8 a.m. Friday. Then, when I get home Sunday afternoon, I'll switch suitcases and head to the Madison airport where I'll be going somewhere where the "spring" temps will look like this next week...

I'll give you a clue: Not in the Midwest! It just happens that my oldest sister is cat sitting for a few weeks... in Florida! So she just happens to have a spare room. And the direct flights from Madison to Fort Myers just happen to be a screaming deal. I could not pass this up!

Thankfully this warmer weather is helping me to think spring. But trying on "summer" clothes is making me think I should've been starving myself – at least since New Year's. 

Oh well, I think scrapbooking with friends, followed by sunshine and a few fun activities will put all that right out of my mind.

Spring it on!

Holiday Excite-Mint

I could say I knew all along that today was National Chocolate Mint Day and that's why mint was on my mind. But I'd be lying.

I can't keep track of all the made-up daily celebrations. This one must be a legit holiday, though, because the banks were closed and there was no mail service. That's serious!

Too bad I had no more chocolate mint anything left in the house. Pretty sure I "pre-gamed" enough of it this weekend. Speaking of games...

Got home in time to catch the end of the Assumption Royals game on TV. Well, we THOUGHT it was the end. But they pushed it into OT. And thanks to accurate free-throw shooting in the closing extra minutes, our boys came away with an exciting victory! Finally some decent hoops on TV. 

I have a lot going on this week, but I'm hoping to catch one more home game for the girls (starting playoffs tomorrow) and the boys (home game Thursday). 

Get hot and stay hot!

For Your Enjoy-Mint

So it turns out my sun-seeking sister Sylvester is also my Shamrock Shake sister! I couldn't eat all of it on Valentine's Day, so I put it in the freezer and we both enjoyed the slightly thawed version Friday night.

Which served as my inspiration Saturday morning when I made a Thin Mint Magic trifle! As usual, I never make a trifle the same as previously. I just FIND the ingredients. In this case, the cake layers didn't involve me baking. I happened to see a big frosted mint brownie pan at Festival Foods and grabbed it. Next layer is white chocolate pudding with a bit of mint extract and green food coloring. Then comes a layer of crushed Thin Mints. Repeat and add Cool Whip to the top and sprinkle Andes Mint chips on top. 

And yes, it was as tasty as it sounds!

I brought it to Rudolph for the pot luck after church – featuring the guitar choir – last night.

Besides great music and fun with friends, we were treated to this gorgeous sunset out the back door of the Welcome Center.

Today I sang in my own church choir and was treated to an early moon view this afternoon during a short walk. It was finally above freezing again after a few days of cold, "normal" winter. 

And our brain-washed Wisconsin minds are thinking... it's 36 degrees. Maybe we should grill out for supper! The brats in our fridge are yelling, "Yes, please!"

Hope you found some sources of enjoy-MINT this weekend!

Foto Fryday

I know for a lot of people it's Fish Fry Friday – thanks to Lent. But after work, I got busy with locating and ordering prints of the last photos I'll need for Camp Crop-A-Lot next weekend.

In fact, I think I'm all set. Ignore the folder labels since I bought these from someone years ago. But rest assured, each folder has photos (and some of them corresponding papers) for pages I'm going to do at camp for years 2016 and 2017.

It really takes a lot of organizational work BEFORE camp. I'm glad I'm close to done so I don't have to fret about it for the next week. 

As for Fish Fry Friday, I think I'll just settle for Pre-camp Popcorn! It's been a busy night!

Have a good weekend, friends!

Love Stories

First of all, happy belated Valentine's Day! I was busy doing things I love yesterday. Sort of. I mean there was work first, but the our boss got us heart-shaped pizza for lunch. So what's not to love about that?

From work, I raced back to Rapids so I could practice choir a few minutes before our Ash Wednesday church service. Yes, Lent is here. The ultimate love story, right? 

Singing went well and then we had practice to learn a new song to sing this coming Sunday. By time I got home to see my valentine, it was after 8 p.m. We exchanged gifts AND he had a Shamrock Shake waiting for me. What's not to love about that? I will have to make that last a few days!

After that, I had a few hundred hockey photos from the night before to edit so it was definitely straight to bed and no blogging when I got done at 11 p.m. – on a "school night" as we say.

Woke up this morning to a sight I do not love. I know I shouldn't be surprised to see snow – it is February after all – but I was loving the mild temps and DRY commute. It was a bit on the slick side this morning!

Tonight, as I previously blogged about, we went the Rapids airport to hear author John Armbruster share his experience writing the book Tailspin – a nonfiction account of WWII vet Eugene Moran's survival of falling 4 miles in the air after being shot down by Germany fighter pilots AND being a POW. 

As I also mentioned previously, we got ahold of the book a few months ago because our friend's daughter is married to Moran's grandson. Tonight I got to talk to him and asked it he knew about any of this story before the book was done. He said his grandpa died when he was about 20 and all he knew was about the 4-mile fall.

Mr. Armbruster (I'm just going to call him John) had quite a display there tonight. Lots of newspaper articles about Moran and various artifacts...

Including a letter to Moran's mother when he was first declared missing in action.

Very interesting to look at.

And interesting to hear the story and see pictures and hear actual audio of Moran telling John about some of the things that happened in the Rikki Tikki Tavi aircraft.

Loved that John signed all our books and loved that there was a good crowd in the airport hangar to support him and learn more. As someone who loves reading (and writing), that was great to see and be a part of.

If anyone wants to borrow our book, you can. Otherwise it's available on Amazon and quite possibly Target and Wal-Mart. One of my sisters is reading it on Kindle right now and texted me how intense it is. I said, yep, and I feel badly that even though I say "Thank you for your service" to veterans, that I didn't give a lot more love and attention to those WWII survivors.

I'm sure there's a lot of untold stories out there. We're glad John was able to share this one.

Hug your loved ones! And appreciate them for their sacrifices – big or small. 

That Fat Tuesday Thing

I'll have to defer to my late mother-in-law's favorite cat to observe Fat Tuesday (aka Mardi Gras). She loved Garfield and we can identify. In fact, Jim had lasagna for supper! And I just enjoyed Fat Tuesday treats at work!

They did have a Mardi Gras theme in the cafeteria and I honestly did not have to do anything to earn my purple and gold beads. I swear!

But someone brought in Fannie May chocolate bars and someone else made fruit pizza and still someone else had mini-cupcakes with the "good" frosting. So yep, I was full by the time I got home from work.

And even now, after a fun night shooting hockey pictures for Rapids, I'm still full.

But I have that little space for popcorn, as always.

As for tomorrow... are YOU dieting? I may give up some caloric things but I haven't committed quite yet. Sorry, Garfield, it's still Fat Tuesday in my books!